I'm at a loss on Canon's MAP program. If retailers want to discount (or even lose money) on Canon's products as a featured item, what does Canon lose? This "cyber Monday" is non-existent for Canon. If they think they're establishing value, anyone buying a "deal" knows what the normal price is - that's the starting point value.

I'm at a loss on Canon's MAP program. If retailers want to discount (or even lose money) on Canon's products as a featured item, what does Canon lose? This "cyber Monday" is non-existent for Canon. If they think they're establishing value, anyone buying a "deal" knows what the normal price is - that's the starting point value.

Well, you are not alone. I saved some $$ for the new body hoping to pick up a deal, but there is nothing from the authorized retailers. The sale is not even on the "Meh..." level. But look at the bright side - the unauthorized retailers are making a killing now. At least someone is benefiting from MAP. They don't even have to go too low with their prices as the authorized dealers can't even come close to compete with them now. So yeah, I donno what Canon is doing, but whatever they are doing - works well for the grey market. I'm not sure how all this is supposed to help and protect "smaller authorized retailers" (I believe this was announced as Canon's logic behind MAP), but hey, what do I know...

I don't think it's MAP that's the real hangup. I think most of the retailers don't think they have to take a hit as long as no one else is doing it.

The 5d3 and 1dx are great (new) products that will continue to generate orders . . . my experience is that vendors are more concerned about losing orders to other retailers. Amazon and Newegg were going at it (watching each other, bestbuy and walmart) last year, but this year the deals have been pretty much ho-hum across the board.

I think that every time we declare a sale DAY, they pull back because of guaranteed orders . . . this year Cyber Monday was the new buzzword on everyone's lips that wasn't one of us doing 99% of our holiday shopping online.

I don't think it's MAP that's the real hangup. I think most of the retailers don't think they have to take a hit as long as no one else is doing it.

There are two reasons a legit authorized retailer will abide by an MAP agreement. First is that they're more strictly enforced than ever and the penalties for violations are draconian. They include losing co-op dollars, losing reimbursement for rebates, the vendor refusing to ship more of the item for which the MAP was violated, losing authorized retailer status.

Second is we entered into an agreement and violating it would be unethical. We honor our agreements with our vendors just as we do those with our customers.